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Friday, February 21, 2014

Beauty Spotlight - Ft. Flower Beauty

FLOWER BEAUTY

"You no longer have to spend a lot of money to get the quality cosmetics you want and deserve.

How do we do it? We do not pay for advertising. Where other beauty
brands spend a vast percentage of the cost of their products on ads, we
do not. Drew, as an owner of the brand, takes pride in promoting Flower,
which in turn allows us to put all of our resources into the formulas
and packaging, and not into advertising.

Custom-formulated with the same ingredients used in luxury make-up,
our exclusive botanical-infused Soft-Focus Complex illuminates for a
lit-from-within effect.

All products are proudly made in the USA and are never tested on animals.

So be em-FLOWER-ed. The best make-up isn’t only found in high-end stores any longer."

First of all, you may have noticed a renaming for my Fun Little Purchase post....it's now Beauty Spotlight! Haha, I realized that not ALL of the things I had been purchasing were really falling into the category of "little", and I think this new name suits this type of post so much better! So! I have been DYING to try out this brand since it first came out at the beginning of 2013. My store FINALLY is stocking it, I had been looking everywhere for it for...literally, over a year. The brand was launched by American actress, screenwriter and model, Drew Barrymore and was made with the purpose of offering high end quality makeup for an affordable price. Here's what Drew has to say about her brand:"The reason I have created this makeup line is because I have grown up in a makeup chair. I loved watching women in this aspirational environment. But it was an always will be important to me to send messages of empowerment.And on a business level, I wanted to give women the finest formulas. They deserve to have that level of quality, and I wanted to be the brand that delivers that to them." - Drew Barrymore, Flower BeautyWell, Drew, I quite agree and I love your attitude! I've always loved her as an actress, and now I'm super excited for her in this next step in her career. Flower Beauty is an exclusive brand to Walmart and walmart.com. Price-wise the line ranges from the cheapest item being $4.98 (MSRP) for Nail Polish to $13.98 (MSRP) for Foundation. The average price is around $7 for majority of items. As for what's available...well pretty much everything you could possibly need in makeup as well as nail polishes. Here is a list of what they currently offer:

About FaceFoundation (14 shades)

SkincognitoStick Foundation (8 shades)

In Your PrimerPerfecting Primer

Face the WorldTinted Moisturizer (5 shades)

BB Cream4-in-1 Skin Solution (4 shades)

Lighten Up!Illuminating Concealer (4 shades)

Petite FleursPocket Triplet Concealer (2 selections)

Secret Service Cover-Up (4 shades)

Powder UpLoose Powder (3 shades)

Powder TripPowder Foundation (4 shades)

Win Some, Rouge SomeCreme Blush (6 shades)

Glow Baby GlowBlush/Bronze Duo (4 shades)

Glisten Up!Highlighting Chubby (3 shades)

Perfect CanvasCreme Foundation (4 shades)

Shadow Play Eyeshadow Quad (6 selections)

Color Play Creme Eyeshadow (12 shades)

Extreme Measures Lengthening Mascara (5 shades)

Lash KnockoutVolumizing Mascara (5 shades)

Zoom-InUltimate Mascara (5 shades)

On Your MarkLiquid Eye Liner (2 shades)

Easy on the EyesLong Lasting Eye Pencil (5 shades)

Raise Some 'BrowsDefining Brow Pencil (3 shades)

Eyes on the PrizeEyeshadow Chubby (5 shades)

Eye 2 EyeEye Marker and Volumizing Mascara (2 shades)

Double Take Eye Marker and Creme Shadow (3 shades)

Kiss Stick Velvet Lip Color (9 shades)

Kiss StickHigh-Shine Lip Color (9 shades)

Lip ServiceLip Butter (9 shades)

Shine OnLip Gloss Wand (10 shades)

Sheer UpLip Tint (5 shades)

Line & ShineLip Liner (5 shades)

Kiss Me Twice Lip & Cheek Chubby (5 shades)

Lip SuedeVelvet Lip Chubby (5 shades)

Petite Fleurs Pocket Triplets (4 selections)

Nail'd ItNail Lacquer (24 shades)

Whew! That's a lot of goodies! Aren't the names adorable? I love cute little catchy product names. Well, I know you're just itching to see what I purchased for reviewing, so I won't keep you waiting any longer!....On to the review...

I'm definitely more of a BB Cream girl than a foundation girl, and it's been forever and a day since I've decided to try out a new one. You know how you just get stuck loving a single product and refuse to try something new? Yup, that's been me for months. I went through several tubes of my favorite BB Cream without even considering venturing out into the great BB beyond. Well, no more! When I saw Flower Beauty offered a BB Cream, I just knew it was fate and I had to try it.

The packaging is a standard tube for BB creams - long, flat with a twist-off cap. First of all, I have to say, BRAVA to Flower Beauty for their packaging. The rose gold is GORGEOUS and I love the clean, simple designs with white. It feels very fresh, feminine and yes....flowery! I feel like if a garden were to suddenly magically grow makeup products, this is what they'd look like. (Go on, go imagine that if you will. It will make any makeup obsessed lover's day).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this formula! It has now become my new favorite BB cream and I use it every single day! It's a bit thicker than the typical American BB cream, in fact it reminds me a bit more of Asian BB creams. In similarities it is pretty much a thick full-coverage cream, but it lacks the dewy finish that most Asian BB creams have.

There's only four shades of BB creams available from Flower Beauty at this time - BB1 (Fair), BB2 (Light), BB3 (Medium), BB4 (Dark), and of course I picked up Fair. Fair leans just a taaaaad yellow on my peaches and cream Irish skin, but once it's blended out it's not as noticeable. I always make sure to pull it down onto my neck so there won't be any strong contrast, however it can look more natural when applied right. I do wish they'd come out with a slightly pinker toned version of the Fair, though. As far as application methods, I've tried several:1) Applying with hands - This is my least favorite method, only because it IS so thick. Even if you apply slow with small amounts, you are layering it on a bit and it will start to look heavy during the day after hours of wear. Even though the formula blends well, it's a bit trickier to get a completely even application just from using fingertips.2) Applying with a brush - This is a fairly good method for application, I really didn't have many problems with it. I tried a variety of brushes and the one I felt was best was my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. It was easy to control the blending since the brush isn't huge but still large enough to cover a decent amount of skin so applying did take too long. I also tried applying the cream to the back of my hand and swirling the brush it in as well as dabbing the cream in spots all over my face, THEN using the brush to spread. Both methods worked well, however I preferred the latter a bit more.3) Applying with a Beautyblender - My ABSOLUTE favorite method, it works like a DREAM. If you don't have a Beautyblender, but wan't to try out this BB cream, I really do recommend getting the blender as well, you won't be disappointed. It gave me an absolutely flawless airbrushed finish! I wet the blender under the faucet, then used a paper towel to gently squeeze the excess water out, leaving the blender slightly damp. Then I applied some of the BB cream to the back of my hand, dabbed the blender in it and stippled it all over my face. It ever so slightly thins out the BB cream, but still overs great coverage and once that layers dries after a minute you can add more for better coverage if needed! ADORE.

The finish when used without the Beautyblender is somewhat dry, with a slightly powdery look but not a powdery feel. It's best not to brush on a very dry looking setting powder over it, though, however you can still use one with it. With the Beautyblender, it's a bit more dewy during application, but will dry slightly once it sets. Used this way you can pretty much use any setting powder with it. As for longevity and wear, paired with a primer and setting spray, the coverage lasted 8+ hours. Because it's a bit thicker, however, if you don't blend it well you will start to see your skin underneath in some spots if it wears off. When I applied it with my hands, I had this problem, especially since I have rosacea and if I don't blend my BB cream or foundation well you'll see the rosacea peeking through some streaks or spots on my face where the coverage has worn off. I rarely had that problem using a brush to apply, though, and I never had it when using the Beautyblender.I'm hoping they may add more shades to the line, though, possibly in cool or warm tones for each shade, since I know that would be helpful to such a huge range of people, including myself. I think if they did that this BB cream would be one the best available in America for such a great price!

Oh you know I HAD to get some eyeshadows! This little quad was calling my name, isn't it stunning? They have six shade selections for this quad that includes:

Face the Gray - grey, taupe, lavender, dark purple

Foxy Browns - peach, browns and taupe

Secret Garden - teal, green, rose and peach

Smoke and Mirrors - grey, nude, taupe and mink

Twilight Moon - cream, grey, dark grey, black

Blue Lagoon - cream, light blue, teal, dark brown

I do hope they come out with more, but so far, I love the color selections!

Again, super cute packaging that's crisp and white with rose gold trim. It's a standard quad compact shape, but it indents in in the center of each side, as well as bubbling in on the top of the plastic cover. I think it's adorably similar to a flower shape! Which, I'm sure, is exactly what they were going for. Well done, Flower Beauty!

Inside are the four shadows, nicely separated by the trim, as well as a dual-ended shadow applicator. The only thing that this compact does NOT have is a mirror, however, I'm fine sacrificing that for the sake of adorableness. ::giggles::

I was SO shocked at the pigmentation of these shadows! These swatches were taken WITHOUT primer. Hello! Each swatch was about 2-3 swipes each. The pale peachy-nude is a great highlighter color for my skin since it stands out well enough but can be blended for just subtle shimmer. The rose tone has some light flecks of silver shimmer in it, but it's not overwhelming, while the dark green-teal and light moss green have a beautiful satin finish. I didn't have any problems with patchiness or dryness and the blend beautifully.I always use a primer as well as setting spray with the eyes as well so with it, the colors lasted about 7 hours before fading. The pale peachy-nude was the first to fade away, of course, but the greens stayed fairly vivid till about the 9 hour mark.I really want to try the other quads now! I would love it if they came out with a pink or pastel quad.

Alright my darlin' readers...you may already be tired of me saying how amazing everything is already...but hold on to your hats...this is now my HOLY GRAIL mascara!

When I went through their mascaras and saw Lengthening, Volumizing then Zoom-In Ultimate 3-in-1 Mascara of course I was like....GIVE ME THE SUPER FANCY ONE! Especially with the slender rose gold packaging!This mascara comes in five different shades: Intense Black, Black, Brown Black, Brown and Waterproof Intense Black.

(click image for larger view)

So I have actually heard of twistable mascara wands before but I had never tried one. Although, I don't recall seeing one that twists THREE clicks before. In this photo it shows the actual part of the mascara tube (the cap) you turn to adjust the wand and twist it.

Step 1 - Lengthen

The wand is super long for the first step! It's nearly as long as my eye, haha! The bristles are spaced well apart and are what I call "toothy" plastic bristles. They're not incredibly long so I'm not hitting my eyelid with them while applying and smearing mascara on my eyelid, but they're long enough to reach well through the lash for a good coat.

Step 2 - Curl

Once you're done with step one, you twist the top of the applicator wand cap to pull in the bottom of the bristles which curl them for step two. As you can see, the top part of the bristles have rotated around, giving the overall bristles a big curve. I know you may be thinking...how can this possibly just CURL the lashes? I'm telling you...it does. It just pushes those little lashes up and makes them look happy!

Step 3 - Volumize

Another twist and click into place and voila, super curvy bristles! After the last twist the center to bottom part of the wand twists creating a swirled brush that's more tightly packed to deliver some fabulous volume and plumping.

So here I swiped across twice in each mode so you can see the difference in the bristle structure. With Lengthen (step 1) there's a definite separation in the bristles, along for separation in lashes and an even coverage. Curl (step 2) doesn't show much of a difference but I'm sure that has to do with the actual curvature of the brush itself, that causes some push and lift of the lashes. Volumize (step 3) shows a tighter and thicker coat that adds some serious volume and strong layering compared to the extended wand.This mascara layers very easily with little to no clumping if layered while still lightly tacky. It's always best not to layer over completely dried mascara as that can typically get too heavy and create thick blobs that don't adhere as well or will easily flake off once dried. Even with each step, I'll go over the lashes a few times to ensure complete coverage. For my bottom lashes, however, I only add a light layer of each step.

This mascara has awesome wear! My lashes stayed lengthened, curled and volumized for...well....all day. I kid you not! They were just stuck looking fabulous until I took my makeup off! The formula does not smudge at all, but after hours of wear if you touch your lashes, you may have a teensy bit of flaking, but I found if I didn't mess with them, I didn't have that problem at all. I'd really much rather have a few flakes than smudging.

Yes, I am obsessed with it, in fact, I've already purchased the Brown shade as well since I made this original purchase. My little short and finicky lashes just LOVE this stuff! I'm curious as to if there'd be any flaking with the waterproof formula, but I'm not a huge fan of waterproof formulas since they're usually so hard to take off. The regular formula isn't hard to remove at all, even though it lasts so long.

I have so many more powder blushes than cremes, so when I saw this product I knew I had to try it out. I mean, how ridiculously adorable is this little thing?

I was torn between this coral shade and a gorgeous vibrant pink, but I absolutely loved a shade of lipstick that I'll show you later in this post, so I got the blush to go with it. Again, super cute white packaging with rose gold trim! The top of the lid is fairly thick and domed slightly which gives a bit of a magnifying effect when viewing the blush.

The compact isn't too large, in fact, the blush pan is about the size of a quarter, which makes it great for tossing in your purse for color touch ups in the day. One thing I'll say for it's size, though, is if you prefer using a brush for creme blush application, the blush will smear a bit on the rose gold trim around the side of the pan. If you're particular about keeping your products clean looking then I found the best way to use a brush without having to dip it directly into the pan (which isn't too good for your blush incidentally, since you could get hairs, and bristle marks all in it) is to swirl a clean finger in it and wipe it ONTO the bottom of your brush bristles, THEN apply to the cheeks. Of course, you can also just apply directly to the cheeks with your fingers!

I LOVE this color! It's a gorgeous peachy-coral that is very buildable for pigmentation or can be worn more naturally for a colorful flush. The formula is very smooth and creamy and blends out evenly and smoothly. Blended out it just looks like a soft flush that's very natural looking. It does set it fairly quickly so you can add more as wanted without smearing off what you already have on. It stays somewhat soft with it's finish, it doesn't set to a powder but it does last for hours and hours (with primer and setting spray) before gently fading away. I'd say mine has been lasting consistently about 6-7 hours before fading.The other colors this creme comes in are:

Elegant Azalea- rosy red-pink

Forget-Me-Not - light pink coral

Primrose & Proper - medium pink

Pure Petunia - bright pink coral

Rose-o-den-dron - light mocha pink

GLISTEN UP!

HIGHLIGHTER CHUBBY

in HL1 Pearl Shimmer

"Sheer, illuminating highlighter with a long-lasting glow!

Perfectly brighten and accent cheekbones and eyes, including brow bone

Haha, I just thought the chubby sticks were so cute! They have different ones for highlighting, eyeshadow, lip & cheek and velvet lip, but since I wanted to give a full-range overview of their line, I decided to go for the highlighter, especially since I've never tried a highlighter stick quite like this before.

The packaging is pretty simple. The stick shows the color of what the product is, and the white part at the bottom is twistable to push up the product inside. The rose gold is present in the lettering font instead of trim.

Now HERE is my one and only major issue with this brand and it's packaging. There is, of course, a product sku sticker on each piece and this sticker was placed OVER where the bottom of the chubby twists and up to above the middle of the stick. I had to take the sticker off to twist it. Once I took it off, you see what is left....yucky stickiness! This is AFTER I tried rubbing it some to remove it. I'm probably going to have to get a wipe and some sticker remover to take the rest of it off. This also happened with my BB cream and lipstick, but this highlighter is being particular difficult. I don't like that I HAD to remove the sticker to twist the product up, especially since the entire product did have plastic on it to prevent people from opening it. It's not a HUGE deal, but still worth mentioning.

Come to think of it, I actually do have ONE more complaint with this highlighter. The amount of product inside. You look at the stick and you think, wow, that's quite a bit of product....then you twist it all the way up and....nope...not even half the length of the stick. ::le sigh:: I'm not a fan of deceptive packaging and we all know it happens A LOT in the beauty world, so this did make me frown a bit. However, with that being said, after use, I can tell this product WILL last quite some time as a little goes a long way...I just wish, like I said, the packaging wasn't so deceptive as to how much product you're getting.

There are three different shades for the highlighters, first of all, this one - Pearl Shimmer, which is a pink-toned nude shimmer, then there's also Gold Coaster, a light yellow-gold shimmer, and Honey Bronze, a honey-nude shimmer.It's fairly sheer for a highlighter with some subtle shimmer and frostiness. It can be built up to some extent but mostly it goes on very lightly. The Pearl Shimmer shade almost matches my skin tone perfectly so I can pretty much use it anywhere on my face I just want more light to hit for a brightened glow. I just swipe it straight on, then lightly blend it with my fingers!Longevity and wear isn't quite as long as I would like, but still not bad for a sheerer highlighter. I had about 3 hours of glow, then at the 4-5 hour mark it began to fade a bit. I still had a bit of shimmer under direct bright light at the 7 hour mark, though.I'm actually very curious to try the other two shades since Pearl Shimmer matches my skin so much! I want to see if they'd show up more or create some shimmery tone!

Gotta get a lippy! There were some gorgeous shades to pick from but of course my eye jumped to one of the brighter ones! Here are the colors they currently offer for the Velvet finish:

Set Me Freesia - warm pink nude

Petal Kiss - warm rosy pink

Tender Tuberose - deep rose with brown undertones

Chocolate Lily - dark rosy brown

Dahlia Dahling - bright red with fuchsia undertones

Camelia Charm - light to medium pink

So Gladiola - medium peachy orange

Get to the Poinsettia - bittersweet bright red

Flamingo Flower - cool toned bright fuschia

They have three different types of finishes for their lipsticks - Velvet (matte), High-Shine and Butter (more sheer). This is from the matte range and as you can see, it has very little shine at all. It's not COMPLETELY matte but it is quite drying. However, the color is SO pretty and can be worn super bright for full pigmentation or blended out. Even though it's a matte finish, it's still easily blendable. The main issue with this lipstick is the formula. It just is a little too dry after long periods of wear. For best application I've learned to apply a little chapstick that is very deep conditioner and won't slide off my lips or smudge and blend it in lightly with my fingertips. THEN I apply this lipstick over it. If you have any cracks or creases in your lips, this lipstick will show it. It does pull slightly on your lips as well after a few hours so you feel like you either need to reapply or blot/wipe a bit off to look even again. I even found that applying a bit of chapstick or balm on your fingertip and lightly wiping over lipstick that was applied hours ago does help freshen it up a bit. As much as I love the pigmentation and immediate finish, I do think I'd like the High-Shine line better. I've heard that So Gladiola is one of the best of the Velvet lipsticks after I purchased it, and that the other's formula's are even more drying. If you're looking to try out a lipstick from Flower Beauty, I might recommend the High-Shine or Butter ones instead, unless you don't mind putting in a little extra work for that Velvety finish and color.As far as longevity is concerned, the color (although dry and pulling a bit) does last! I have full, bright color for about 4-5 hours after wear, then some faded color for a couple hours after. So longevity gets an A+, but finish...not so much. I am going to be picking up a few in the High-Shine and Butter finishes, though!

Aaaaand the last of the Flower Beauty products I have to show you today are two of their Nail Lacquers! Of course, I couldn't just pick ONE, now could I? ::winkwink::

The two that I chose were....do I even need to say it?....two of the brightest ones they had. I just wanted something fun and eye-catching for Spring! I chose Good Bud-dy, a teal blue, and Eye of the Tiger Lily, a bright light orange. The bottles are a thick glass with a glossy white top. The brush itself is a standard polish brush size. These are one of the few Flower items that doesn't have any rose gold trim or lettering on them anywhere.

Here I applied each other with two coats each, no topcoat. You can see they both have a pretty glossy finish by themselves, however, there's a definite difference in opacity. Good Bud-dy was pretty much opaque with one coat! It hardly needed two, but I always prefer doing at least two regardless. However, Eye of the Tiger Lily is fairly sheer and probably needs at least three to four coats for full opacity. Good Bud-dy goes on more like a creme while Eye of the Tiger Lily is more of a jelly, very thin and a bit more watery. They both went on SO smoothly though, with no running or pooling and they evened out beautifully. As for wear, I had very few chips and tip wear and tear for about 2-3 days (with topcoat), but I do use my hands a lot for work, so that's fairly normal for me. I love the fact that they're 3 Free, and so far I like the range of colors they have. I'm hoping they'll put out more as well! I definitely want to pick up a few more!Here are the other colors they have available:

Now for the fun part! Wearing the makeup! I wanted to go for something bright for Spring but as my eyeshadow is called...a Secret Garden look.

I used the BB cream all over my face, as well as the Glisten Up! Highlighting Chubby on my upper cheeks, down the top of my nose, on the inner corners of my eyes and on my cupid's bow on my lips. The highlighter shows up much better in person, it doesn't translate well in my iPhone photos. The only place you can see it well enough in these pictures is on the inner corners of my eyes.

For the eyes I used the peach shade below my eyebrows and towards the inner part of my eyelid right above the crease, then blended on the light moss green all over my eyelid, stopping at the crease. I used the teal shade on the outer part of my eyelid, pulling it out some in the wing, as well as blending it right under the outer part below my bottom lashes to balance the top. I finished the eyes by blending the rose shade from my crease and up lightly towards my eyebrows, as well as using a dark green eyeliner for a subtle wing. Now take a moment to LOOK AT MY LASHES! Notice the gentle curve, the volume, the length...I LOVE this mascara! Did you see my bottom lashes where my eyes are open in the photo above? HELLO! So pretty! Ok, now that I'm done drooling over my fabulous looking lashes (thank you Zoom-In Ultimate!), I can now go into how much I adore the gorgeous creme blush that looks oh so natural...doesn't it? It's just so soft, and gives you this amazing flushed appearance that I think it's just perfect for Spring. Also, I love, love, love the lipstick shade! I just use a light balm over it...it's just too darn pretty to let a little dryness bring me down.

Well that's it for my Beauty Spotlight review on Flower Beauty! I hope you enjoyed it! It's been a long time coming, I'm just so happy my Walmart is carrying the brand now! I seriously must have been one of the first people to see the new display because they had everything there and the next time I went it was so picked over. I'm so very pleased with the brand in general! I think the packaging is gorgeous and different and across the line of what I've tried, I've been happy with the quality, pigmentation and wear. There were only a couple of minor things I'd change, but overall, I love everything! I certainly want to try out some more gorgeous shades from the brand, so I may include them in a Bag Full of Beauty post at some point. Let me know if there are any particular shades you may be interested in and I can pick them up to swatch and show you!